Achnophora from the Greek 'achne' meaning chaff and 'phoros' meaning bearing, referring to the conspicuous scales of the receptacle and of the pappus. Tatei named in honour of Ralph Tate (1840-1901), Professor of Natural Science, Adelaide.

Distribution:

Endemic to South Australia and found only on Kangaroo Island, on edges of streams and seasonally marshy ground.

Status:

Native. Rare in South Australia.

Plant description:

Small daisy with long, narrow, rounded basal leaves. Flowers are white to light pink daisies, one on each stalk. Flowering between September and November.

Fruit type:

Dried daisy-head. (capitulum)

Seed type:

Brown to reddish-brown, cone-shaped achenes to 1.5 mm long and 1 mm wide, covered in short hairs with golden pappus bristles at one end.

Embryo type:

Spatulate.

Seed collecting:

Pick maturing daisy-heads by hand, when dried off and turning brown with red-brown seeds inside.

Seed cleaning:

Place the heads in a tray and leave to dry for 1-2 weeks. Then rub the heads gently with your hands to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to remove the unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place.

Seed viability:

From two collections, the seed viability was high, ranging from 95% to 100%.

Seed germination:

Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily.

Seeds stored:

Location

No. of seeds(weight grams)

Numberof plants

Datecollected

Collection numberCollection location

Datestored

% Viability

Storagetemperature

BGA

5000 (2.13 g)

100+

11-Aug-2008

TST567Kangaroo Island

20-Jul-2009

100%

+5°C, -18°C

BGA MSB

4200 (2.18 g)4200 (2.18 g)

100+

11-Nov-2008

DJD1250Kangaroo Island

20-Jul-2009

95%

-18°C

Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.